The miracles of water to cure diseases. Do you have enough water?

Updated on June 26, 2011

Cool, clean water is the best beverage of all time. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10451396@N00/429388973/

Water and your health : Roles of water in our body.

Our body is 66% percent water. From all the cells that make the human body contain water and need water to function properly. Water is needed in every activities of the body include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature. The excellent ability of water to dissolve so many substances allows our cells to use valuable nutrients, minerals, and chemicals in biological processes. Water acts as a delivery system, a lubricant for the blood and helps transport waste material out of the body through lung (breathing), skin (sweating), kidney (urination), and colon ( feces).

Water is the simplest thing that we can take and has the most incredible healing power, and it is very essential to our survival. Drinking enough water will save you from many illnesses and diseases, lessen your chance to infection, and may solve many of your health problems. In fact, there are many reasons why the body needs sufficient water on a regular basis.

Here are some examples of how water can improve your health.

Water can be beneficial to weight loss. Water help to boost your metabolism to burn calories faster and regulating appetite.(Make sure to drink appropriate amount of water in order to encourage your liver to boost metabolism.) Drinking water can also help to reduce water retention.

Drinking adequate amounts of water can decrease the risk of certain types of cancers, including colon cancer, bladder cancer, and breast cancer.

Drinking enough water will make your skin radiant and smooth. Lessen wrinkles that caused from dehydration. Water helps moisturize skin and ensure proper cellular formation underneath layers of skin to make your skin glow and healthy.

Drinking enough water protects you from urinary infections.

Drinking more water helps to regulate and lower blood pressure.

Drinking water can significantly reduce joint and/or back pain. (Muscle cramps sometimes are caused by dehydration)

Water aids in the digestion process and help to prevent constipation. It promotes regular bowel movement.

Water leads to increased energy levels. The most common cause of daytime fatigue is actually mild dehydration. It also helps to relieve headaches.

Detoxification. Our body needs water to help remove toxins and waste product from our body.

Dr. Batmanghelidj, the author of ' Your Body's Many Cries for Water', state that many other health problems resulting from chronic low-level dehydration such as gastric ulcers, joint pain, asthma and allergies, and many more conditions. You may want to watch this video,'WaterCure TV Debate'. for more information and discussion about how dehydration can link to many health problems and how water can cure many symptoms. (More in depth information can be found in his book) The video has 6 parts which you can follow the link below.

WaterCure TV Debate

More on WaterCure TV Debate

Water is essential for your body. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyesore9/2387762711/

Dehydration : Signs that tell you need more water.

Our body loses water every day through the body's activities during the day. If the water that has been lost is not re-fueled, the body becomes dehydrated. The thirst mechanism start when we have lost between 1 and 2 percent of body water. However, it is often mistaken for hunger. If we ignore it, the dehydration will continue and seriously affects both mental and physical performance. 3 percent loss of body water can result in loss of muscle strength. That is why we feel weak and tired.

Mild dehydration can lead to constipation, headaches, lethargy and mental confusion. The body temperature goes up and concentration becomes more difficult. Tiredness in the afternoon are mostly resulted from mild dehydration.

Ask yourself these questions to see if your body needs more water.

Do you often have constipation?

Are you often thirsty? ( If you're constantly thirsty, it can mean that you need more water, or something else. The other two reasons are diabetes, and essential fat deficiency, which often happen to children)

How much is enough? Don't stick to the eight-glass rule.

8 glasses per day are approximately 2 quarts a day. Even though we all need water but the amount that we need could be varied, depending on each person's condition. Just like nutrients, each person has different needs. There is no universal rule for this. A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. (For example, if your are 150 pounds. You need at least 75 ounces of water per day) That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink.

Other factors to consider include physical activities (If you work out, you should drink more because of sweating), climate (Dry or humid), health condition (If need to limit water intake), and physical condition (Women who are expecting or breast-feeding need additional fluids to stay hydrated.)

Find out how much water you need here :

Now that we know water is essential for us, is it possible to drink too much water?

Water intoxication and hyponatremia

It is possible, but very rare to happen. Most people are drinking water less than drinking too much. Drinking a large amount of water in a short period of time can lead to water intoxication. It simply said that the person is 'drown' in water that has been drunk. Too much water leads to the dilution of sodium in the body. Drinking an enormous amount of water also overwhelms the kidneys as they can't process and eliminate the water fast enough, so the amount of sodium in your blood drops too low. This is a disorder called 'hyponatremia' which means 'low sodium.' The brain needs sodium to function properly. When the sodium levels drop, a person feels confusion and lethargy. Severe symptoms can lead to twitching, seizures and even death. Water intoxication and hyponatremia result when a dehydrated person drink too much water without the accompanying electrolytes.

This condition is most commonly seen in infants under six months and sometimes in athletes. A baby can get water intoxication if drank many bottles of water a day. (Which rarely happens) Athletes lose water by sweating heavily, so they lose both water and electrolytes (Salt/Sodium). Drinking too much water will likely lead to hyponatremia as mentioned above.

Some other factors that can trigger the thirst reflex the body includes some drugs and psychological disorder, makes the person can't stop drinking.

So, It is not how much you drink, it is how fast you drink it.

Twenty percent of your water need will come from the foods you eat. The rest of your water need should come from the beverages you drink. Water is the best choice. Drinking small amounts of water throughout your day is better than drinking many glasses of water in a short time. As you can see that water intoxication is a very rare condition. So even if you drink a little more than you need per day but in a small amount throughout your day should not do any harm to your body.

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